PCC Community Wellness Center is the recipient of this year’s $350,000 Humana Communities Benefit charitable grant, the Oak Park-based agency announced last week
PCC beat out two others Chicago-area groups to win the 12th annual grant, which is funded by the Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana Inc.
The health clinic, which serves Austin and other parts of the West Side and surrounding suburbs, will use the grant to create a community farm in an 8,000-square-foot lot across the street from the PCC Austin Family Health Center, 5425 W. Lake St.
Nonprofit organizations in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kankakee, Lake and McHenry counties were vying for this year’s grant. PCC will receive a total of $350,000 in three installments over a three-year period.
Two other organizations — Family Alliance in Woodstock and Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance of Chicago — participated in the inaugural online community vote for the grant. The results were part of the final round of judging, which included formal presentations to a panel of community leaders and business representatives that decided the winning nonprofit. PCC received more than 2,400 online votes.
According to the agency, Austin lacks adequate access to affordable and healthy food. It has also been federally-designated as a medically-underserved area, as nearly 53 percent of its roughly 98,000 residents live at or below the federal poverty level. The agency says it aims to engage at least 150 local participants each year in the community farm.
The community farm is slated to provide Austin residents with “fresh, affordable produce and allowing eight families each year to plant food in their own personal plots,” according to press release from the agency.
The community farm will also include an education component focusing on nutrition and physical activity. PCC will partner with the Chicago Botanic Garden, which will lend participants of its urban agricultural program, Windy City Harvest, to assist in the farm’s installation while providing monthly training programs for participants.
The grant will also allow PCC to employ Windy City Harvest participants to build the farm, as well as provide three years of seasonal full-time work for one individual who’ll maintain the farm.
CONTACT: austintalks.org@gmail.com